Improved water-wheel



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

N. F. BURNI-IAM, OF LAUREL FACTORY, MARYLAND.

llVlPROVED WATER-WHEEL.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 23,011 dated February 22, 1859.

To all whom t may concern,.-

Beit known that I, N. F. BURNHAM, of Laurel Factory, inthe county of Prince Georges and State of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Turbine rater-Wheels; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact 'description of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, in which Figure l is' a side view of my improved wheel when complete and ready for operation. Fig. 2 is a top view of the same placed in the curb and surrounded by the chutes. Fig. 3 is a side View of the hub without buckets or shaft. Fig. 4 is a front view of the bucket detached from the hub.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

Fig. I, A represents the cross, which is made of cast-iro and secured to the flange of the curb by four large screw-bolts, so it can be raised and lowered, as the case may require. B is a circle cast on the cross,which holds the step-box C and four set-screws to center the step. D is a step made of hard wood. E is the lower end of upright shaft, which is turned out to suit the wood step. F is a curb which the wheel runs in, and is cast fast to the bottom scroll-plate, and is turned out at the bottom tosuit the diameter of the wheel. G is the lower iiange of the scroll. II is a side of the chute, which is made of boiler-iron and bent to suit the gains in the top and bottom scroll-plates. I is a top scroll-plate, which is cast the same as the bottom plate, (without the curb.) J is a square castiron frame which the gates are bolted to, and is raised by iron rods K K, which rods are attached to wood levers. L L L L are gates made of castiron and bolted to frame J and can be detached, so that one or more of them can be hoist-ed, as the case may require. Mis a top cap, which covers the wheel, and is secured to the top scroll-plate by screw-bolts.

Fig. 2, N N N N are scrolls or chutes, four in number, (which numbercan be varied from oneto six, as the case may require,) and are so formed as to direct the water into the wheel the depth of the top projection of the bucket. O are buckets, sixteen in number, (which number can be varied to suit the amount of water the wheel is to discharge.)

Fig. 3,1? is a concave hub made of cast-iron and turned from. the top down to tit a circle of two-.thirds its depth, or thereabout, and the balance to t-he bottom straight.

Fig. 4, Q is a bucket made of cast-iron. Onethird of its height is curved to suit the velocity of water the wheel is to run under,and the balance, two-thirds, straight up, with the inside rounded oiit to suit the curve ot hub, and have two wrought -iron bolts cast in each bucket,so they can be fastened to the hub, which forms the wheel. I am aware that the French turbine J onval) receives power from the lower part of the bucket, the same as mine. I do not claim, therefore, the lower end of the bucket R; but

Vhat I do claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The concave hub, as represented in Fig.

. 3, in combination with the bucket,| as represented in Fig. 4., which forms the wheel.

2. The chutes or guides, in combination with the wheel by which one-fourth, one-half, three-fourths, or all the water can be admitted to the wheel and in each case getthe same percentage from the amount of water used.

N. F. BURNHAM.

Attest:

JOHN S. HOLLINGSHEAD, JOHN W. INIANKIN. 

